Apple’s mobile products do not violate Nokia patents, says ITC

An International Trade Commission judge has ruled that Apple's products don't …

The International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled in favor of Apple in one of the company's patent disputes with Nokia. ITC Judge E. James Gildea said on Friday that Apple did not violate any of Nokia's five mobile device patents, though the Commission's members must first review the decision before taking any further action.

The patent war between the two companies began in October 2009 when Nokia accused Apple of infringing on 10 of Nokia's patents related to GSM, UMTS, and WLAN wireless standards. At the time, Nokia's VP of intellectual property Ilkka Rahnasto said that Apple was not establishing its own intellectual property, and that the company was "attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation."

"Nokia has demonstrated its willingness to copy Apple's iPhone ideas as well as Apple's basic computing technologies," read the countersuit, "all while demanding Apple pay for access to Nokia's purported standards-essential patent."

According to the ITC, Apple's products are free of patent violations and the company can continue importing its products into the US. The details of the judge's findings won't be released until after both companies have a chance to redact sensitive information.

Unsurprisingly, Nokia wasn't pleased with the decision. "While we don’t agree that there has been no violation, we’ll wait to see the details of the ruling before we decide on any next steps,” Nokia spokesperson Laurie Armstrong told Bloomberg.

It's possible that the ITC will end up ruling that neither company violates the other's patents. In late 2010, ITC staff members submitted a recommendation in Apple's counter-complaint against Nokia saying that "the evidence will not establish a violation" of Apple's patents. That case is not related to today's decision, and another judge is expected to rule on it in June.